Wow!

[RVFR]

Is this something else or what? I feel bad for the folks in the area, what a bunch of BS

http://tailofthedragon.com/dragon_SHUTDOWN.html

[Bubba Zanetti]

RVFR:

It is BS, but hey, the squids brought the police state. Now all have to suffer.

Just anothe reason not to ride the Dragon.

Thanks for the post on this, I know some people who will be interested with this information.

BZ

[nozzle]

Money talks... the vendors in TN will have to scream louder than the folks that don't like all the tourists. They are right in that there are lots of other nice sections of asphalt to ride in other parts of TN or other states.

Kinda like some beach towns cracking down on Spring Breakers... a few bad apples make it too easy to stereo type.

It is nice to have the instant friends of running into other motorcyclists along the same drive though. Seems that'll be the hardest part.

[mello dude]

Sounds like I'm not gonna waste my time going down there. There are too many other great destinations with little traffic and sparse law enforcement.

MD

[Jack_Attack]

Originally Posted by RVFR

Is this something else or what? I feel bad for the folks in the area, what a bunch of BS

http://tailofthedragon.com/dragon_SHUTDOWN.html

I was up there a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday. Something I swore I would never do again.
Now I remember why.

The Dragon has been de-nutted. 30 MPH and more cops than riders.

There are other terrific roads in the area and pretty much LEO free, since they are all hanging out at the gap.

[SCraig]

My father was a Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel and my half brother is THP as well. I know several other THP officers and most of them are pretty straight up guys. I can see both sides of the argument, and I suspect that with this sort of heavy-handed presence from them that someone has ordered them to do it. I don't condone that type of attitude from police officers, but they do have a job to do and from what I have seen of The Dragon there are a lot of traffic law infractions there at any given time.

I've only been on The Dragon once so I can't really pass judgement on it, but that entire area of the state was somewhat eye-opening. I spent several days in the area a month or so back and the way some of the guys on bikes were behaving made me ashamed to be on one. If there was a road with curves on it (and virtually EVERY road was twisty!) there were guys trying to blow around it as hard as they could. I got passed more times on double-yellow lines in those few days than I have ever before.

There does need to be more police presence in the area, but they are going about it the wrong way and they are only picking on the gap. They forget that the majority of the people there are tourists, and that's what feeds the economy of the entire area. If someone's speeding or doing something illegal, write them up. If someone is riding (or driving) through safely then leave them alone and let them enjoy the road.

The Dragon is a good road to ride, I enjoyed it and would like to do it again, but too many bikers think it is their own private playground. It isn't, it's a state highway and they are still subject to all of the traffic laws there just like everywhere else. You can't pack hundreds of bikes onto a road every weekend and try to blow through it without expecting the police to show up sooner or later.

[nozzle]

the Acura owner's group had their weekend trip go a little differently than they'd planned with the enforcement zone right in the middle of where they wanted to play apparently.

[nozzle]

figured I'd add this since it was there too for all you 1KR folks. It is not me.... if you ran the Gap on your 1000R last week it might be you

[Jack_Attack]

Originally Posted by SCraig

My father was a Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel and my half brother is THP as well. I know several other THP officers and most of them are pretty straight up guys. I can see both sides of the argument, and I suspect that with this sort of heavy-handed presence from them that someone has ordered them to do it. I don't condone that type of attitude from police officers, but they do have a job to do and from what I have seen of The Dragon there are a lot of traffic law infractions there at any given time.

I've only been on The Dragon once so I can't really pass judgement on it, but that entire area of the state was somewhat eye-opening. I spent several days in the area a month or so back and the way some of the guys on bikes were behaving made me ashamed to be on one. If there was a road with curves on it (and virtually EVERY road was twisty!) there were guys trying to blow around it as hard as they could. I got passed more times on double-yellow lines in those few days than I have ever before.

There does need to be more police presence in the area, but they are going about it the wrong way and they are only picking on the gap. They forget that the majority of the people there are tourists, and that's what feeds the economy of the entire area. If someone's speeding or doing something illegal, write them up. If someone is riding (or driving) through safely then leave them alone and let them enjoy the road.

The Dragon is a good road to ride, I enjoyed it and would like to do it again, but too many bikers think it is their own private playground. It isn't, it's a state highway and they are still subject to all of the traffic laws there just like everywhere else. You can't pack hundreds of bikes onto a road every weekend and try to blow through it without expecting the police to show up sooner or later.

I'm sure there were plenty of complaints, and M/C crashes all the time don't help the cause one bit.
After all it's a road and not a race track.

[eddievalleytrailer]

My new RWB is bone stock, and I have all necessary paperwork, so I plan to take a ride down there just to see first hand all the hub bub with the po-po.